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Archive for the ‘Parental Responsibilities’ Category

Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.In this modern wicked world there are a lot of strange notions, all of them straight from Babylon, or Satan and his kingdom of principalities, demons, human workers, practices, works, and ideas. Among them is an utterly ridiculous foolishness that is thoroughly contradicted by not only true Christian theology but also such scientific fields as biology, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. It also runs contrary to what virtually all other world religions, traditions, cultures, etc. have believed and practiced since God created mankind. It is one of those rare things that manages to run contrary to logic, emotion, AND common sense! Despite this idea’s complete lack of merit in any area and its real harm to individuals and societies, has been tirelessly promoted throughout western culture in our schools and universities, in the media, by “leading experts”, by government agencies, and yes by many churches. Why? Because the idea is central to the agenda of humanists and subversives and their goal of creating their brave new free dream world; most – but not all! – completely unaware that they are actually working to make others slaves to Satan just as they are. They have rejected the truth that the only freedom comes through Jesus Christ and instead BELIEVE that they are working towards the day when mankind somehow frees himself by serving and worshipping himself. What is this evil concept? It is none other than the idea of “children’s rights.” By this I do not mean that children have the right to a loving, stable, safe environment where their needs are met; indeed this is something that God commands! Nay, it is the idea that suggests that children have the same rights of free will and self – determination as adults. It goes further to state that adult influence is negative and harmful to children and society, and that such influence should be discouraged, condemned, opposed, and violated whenever possible.

Now this idea was not just sprung upon society all of a sudden, for had it been it would have drawn immediate virulent opposition with its proponents marginalized. No, Satan, the prince of lies, accusations, and deceptions, is smarter than that. So as with all his grand schemes, it had seemingly humble, innocuous, even virtuous beginnings. It began with child labor laws and went on to compulsory education (with mandated curricula). Then in the 1960s, it became necessary to make sure that children did not adopt their parents’ racist views. That evolved into getting children to abandon their parents’ entire value system, all of which was deemed unfair to one group or interest or another. This in turn led to the glorification of open defiance against not only parents, but against the very idea and institution of parenthood and general adult authority itself. Parents, meanwhile, were subjected to a steady barrage of propaganda, pressure, and intimidation. Again, it began simple enough – the attacks on corporal punishment and placing a high priority of “supporting public education” but quickly advanced – or degenerated depending upon your point of view – into ceding all authority and responsibility regarding their children to the government, the media, and children themselves. Modern society DEMANDS that parents allow their children to be insubordinate. They are told to allow children “room to grow”, “a chance to find themselves”, “the freedom to make their own decisions and learn from their own mistakes.”

Today’s parenting motto is “learning to let go.” The idea of parents’ protecting their children has morphed into “sheltering them from the real world.” Parents’ training and instructing their children – as opposed to “spending quality time with them” – is viewed as indoctrination. Structure is viewed as stifling, rigid discipline is viewed as child abuse. We are constantly told that if you not only expose your child to depraved sinful immorality BUT ALSO ALLOW THEM TO INDULGE IN IT that your child will certainly not be able to deal with the temptations and hardships of the cold cruel world. Everyone has all of these anecdotes about how this or that kid “was not allowed to experience and learn from the real world, couldn’t handle it when they left home, and wound up on skid row.” (Of course we never hear about alternative explanations for those children’s fates, or about the children whose lives were ruined by parental permissiveness.) Apply that logic elsewhere, shall we? We should compel our 8 year olds to work in coal mines without safety standards for meager salaries so that they will be knowledgeable of and later avoid workplace dangers and exploitation. We should also make them spend a couple of years in the Ku Klux Klan so that they will reject racism as adults. Right? Of course, such a thing would be considered immoral, as would be anyone who proposes it. But the same is also true of anyone who opposes parental authority and responsibility. So, we now have a society where a child can receive explicit sex instruction and birth control devices from school or any health department, become sexually active but fail to “properly” use the sex education and birth control (being children, after all it is no shock that they would have problems negotiating the same terrain that regularly trips up adults), and receive an abortion to dispose of the pregnancy all without informing – let alone obtaining consent from – their parents.

Yet, this immorality is not only routine, but insisted upon and celebrated. To give an example, I am not going to even reference the “coarser” elements of the popular culture, such as rock and rap music or even the trendy new cartoons that are acknowledged to be mildly edgy. Instead, I will address what is considered even most religious groups as a triumph of positive family values entertainment, the movie Finding Nemo. The main character, Marlin, is portrayed as an “overprotective father.” Now the “overprotective, abusive, and/or absentee father” theme has been a common thread in Hollywood movies for decades, and they have always raised the hackles of traditionalists as undermining fatherhood and the family unit. Since it is regrettably – to Satan – impossible to do away with fathers altogether, the goal of this movies – and of similar “family values” movies – is to win them over to Satanic doctrine. Hence, rather than portraying Marlin as a fascist, they created a sympathetic context in which to portray his “over – protectiveness”, making it the result of a horrific family tragedy. When Marlin’s “smothering” results in Nemo’s “inevitable rebellion”, Nemo gets kidnapped and Marlin goes on a heroic quest to save him (again, Marlin’s bravery, resourcefulness, and dedication is used to win over fathers, especially in a gratuitous scene where a character cries over “never knowing his father!). Along the way, Marlin is given lessons on “how to let go” by the free – spirited fish Dorie (who has a briefly alluded to seamy past) and the “wise” bohemian turtle Crush.

How this absurdity was not only accepted but embraced on such a wide scale is evidence that Satan indeed is the prince of a world that is so thoroughly under Babylon’s influence that Christ’s return is indeed imminent! But fear not … greater is he that is in me – and hopefully you – than he that is in and of this world, and the fact that you are reading this and now have a chance to have your eyes opened is evidence of it. It is first observed with “overprotected” Nemo’s interaction with the “more worldly” classmates on his first day of school. Where Nemo is gentle, respectful, and cautious his classmates are reckless, rebellious, and cruel. Yet we are supposed to want our kids to be like Nemo’s classmates! We are further led to believe that Nemo’s one act of rebellion against his strict father is more dangerous than his classmates’ routine reckless behavior. Also, Nemo’s rebellion is portrayed as solely a consequence of his father’s strictures, not his classmates’ clearly being a bad influence. Suppose one of his classmates had instead been harmed as a result of their routine rebellion, recklessness, disrespect, and cruelty? Do not hold your breath waiting for a “mainstream” movie portraying such to be made, for it would run contrary to a culture that worships such behavior!

But that is merely the first example. Gill, a reckless selfish dreamer, is not only the leader of the fish in the tank where Nemo is held captive, but he becomes a surrogate father – and a superior one at that – by teaching Nemo that the key to manhood is being reckless. Dorie’s addled (and worldly) behavior – very similar to that of a longtime drug addict! – somehow rescues Marlin from impossible situations, making Marlin’s competence, diligence, and conscientiousness seem not only superfluous but detrimental, making positive character traits bad and negative ones good. But the worst is clearly Marlin’s encounter with Crush. When asked by Marlin how to know when his child is ready for adult responsibility, as opposed to the only obvious response (which is when your child is, well, adult and responsible!) Crush gives a response to the effect of “the child is ready for adult responsibility when he wants to be.” That statement, as well as everything else that Crush says, is merely accepted as truth from Marlin without the slightest challenge! Marlin is brave and resourceful enough to risk his life on a quest with impossible odds of success, but he cannot question Crush’s bohemian parenting? And we are told how great it is that turtles lay their eggs on the beach and then split, and the baby turtles catch up with the parents later. Left unsaid is a fact that anyone who has seen a nature show knows: deprived of their parents’ protection, the vast majority of the baby turtles are eaten by predators!

And that is the central fallacy of the movie. The dangers of the ocean are rarely portrayed. When they are, they are either subverted – portrayed as not only harmless but beneficial (i.e. vegetarian sharks; helpful whales and pelicans; turtles who apparently briefly suspended their diet of fish) – or are escaped with little real effort. Indeed, the movie makes a specific point of denouncing Marlin’s caution when he chooses to avoid a dangerous path and winds up in a jellyfish field. So we are left with the impression that there are no REAL dangers out there other than minor ones that can be overcome with luck (and worldliness). Were ocean life shown as it really is – with determined efficient predators around every corner – one would have inevitably come to the conclusion that Nemo’s best chance of survival was having parents who would give him rigorous, strict, disciplined, and lengthy training on predator avoidance. It would have been obvious that in such a dangerous environment, only an immoral, unloving parent would allow Nemo any freedom of movement until he was physically and mentally mature enough to avoid predators – including being able to handle seeing a close friend swimming right next to him be eaten and still have the wherewithal to escape – and demonstrate that he has learned all that his parents had taught him. But again, as the agenda of the filmmakers was to SUBVERT Godly parenting principles, such could not possibly have been and was not portrayed. Typical Hollywood, a subject that I addressed in See No Evil.

That is actually just one prong of Satan’s strategy. In truth, those under Satan’s grip promote two contradictory worldviews in order to justify letting children go untrained. One is, as expressed with the Finding Nemo example, that there is no real danger out there to protect your children from anyway, so why not let them do what they want to do, for any mistake that they make will have minor consequences … a learning experience! Even in terms of the perils of the natural world that is not true, with things such as murder, rape, kidnapping, drug and alcohol use, pregnancy, prison, and sexually transmitted diseases out there carrying long – term disastrous consequences, but it ignores the spiritual realm. Make no mistake, a child left to his or her own devices will almost inevitably become infested by demons, and the worst part is if even a Christian parent “gives the child privacy and space” their ability to do anything about – or even detect – the demon possession and influence or the source thereof is severely hampered! The fact is that by abandoning your child, you have given any and all demons legal right of entry. Because of that deliverance from those demons will be very difficult unless the child renounces them. Of course demons often have very little problem manipulating the minds of children to the point where the child will not renounce them! So realize that rather than simply causing your child to miss out on some amusement or depriving the child of a “learning experience”, you may be preventing your child from becoming possessed by a demon that would be exceedingly difficult to cast out; a danger far worse than virtually anything in the physical realm. So do not be fooled, there is real danger out there that you should act to protect your child from.

The other prong is the notion that there is SO MUCH danger out there that it is IMPOSSIBLE to protect your child from it all, so let your child experience a little danger and harm so that they will be better equipped to avoid the real danger and harm. That excuse is most often applied to drugs and sex. We went from “The Cosby Show” in the late 1980s where the teenage son renounced EVEN THE APPEARANCE of drug use to “My Wife And Kids” in the late 1990s where the teenage son used marijuana “because he could not help it; drugs were all around him!” And “abstinence education” is officially opposed by most government agencies because “virtually all children will inevitably have sex while teens.” Left unsaid is that simple measures can be taken to reduce your child’s exposure to the drug culture (i.e. being more selective in choosing where to live and/or giving real consideration to private education and homeschooling) and that teen sex was much less prevalent BEFORE sex education! It is just a lie of the enemy designed to break your resolve; to keep you from trying so that you will abandon your children to chance, which very likely makes them sitting ducks for Satan.

Satan’s agents would have you believe that all you are doing is imposing rules and being a snoop anyway, and in this modern society with progressive notions ranging from tolerance to abortion to the welfare state, the consequences of misbehavior are not as bad anymore anyway, so why “oppress” your children with your regulations and prying? In reality, for Christians it is not about the rules. It is about doing as much as you possibly can to train your child to walk in power and faith after Christ Jesus. A person – including a child – who lives in Christ and therefore has Christ living in him will not only generally avoid trouble himself, but he will be a great help to his neighbor. That is exactly what Satan does not want. Satan wants your child powerless, your child’s neighbor (i.e. playmate or classmate, especially those without Christian parents) to go without help, and for it all to happen on your watch with you giving tacit approval, which will limit your power as well. It is all about spiritual warfare, the children of Israel battling the Philistines and Babylon. Satan wants your kids so he can get them – and you – off the battlefield before the fighting even starts! Even if your children do return to God at some point – as many do – that is still a lot of years wasted during which you and your child can do a lot of good. Satan is a realist. He knows that he cannot stop everyone from going to Heaven. He even knows that some will be driven to Christ as a direct result of the wickedness that he inflicts. So in these cases he will settle for reducing the damage that God’s people can inflict on him. If he knows that he isn’t going to have your child’s soul anyway, which do you think that Satan would prefer? Your child becoming sexually active at 10 and does not change and accept Christ until he or she is 40 years old and dying of AIDS? Or a child who starts out taking his or her Bible to PUBLIC school each day, sharing the word with classmates, and goes on to have a long life as a soldier in the army of the Lord?

The Bible has not changed. God has not changed. We are to still raise our children according to God’s standards of authority, stricture, and discipline. We are still to be personally responsible for the actions of our children, and to control those actions to the maximum degree possible. We are to realize that even if our children do make mistakes, despite what you have heard, a person is better equipped to understand the implications and deal with the consequences of a mistake at age 22 than they are at age 12. Ultimately, we must remember that a person learns how to trust and obey God as an adult from their experience of obeying and trusting their parents as children. We are to let them know that just as rebellion against their parents now will lead to no good thing, rebellion against God later will similarly lead to no good thing. If we fail, it is something that we will have to face God for.

Prayer:

Father God in the name of Jesus Christ, please help me to renounce the wickedness of the world and to be the strong parent who demands obedience and respect from my child(ren) just as you do me. May I be the vessel through which your love, guidance, authority, power, and instruction is imparted to my child. Please Lord deliver my children from any demons and tendencies of rebellion, and may I not yield to them. And may I also help other parents and children by preaching, promoting, and defending your way of bringing up children. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Thank you Lord.

Deliverance:

In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke demons causing rebellion in my child. In the name of Jesus Christ, I command demons causing rebellion in my child to go and in the name of Jesus Christ I bind them from returning and from entering any member of the Body of Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke demons causing fear of and submission to child rebellion in me. In the name of Jesus Christ, I command demons causing fear of and submission to child rebellion in me to go and in the name of Jesus Christ I bind them from returning and from entering any member of the Body of Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke and bind these demons of rebellion and fear of and submission to rebellion that are running rampant in the homes, churches, and schools. In the name of Jesus Christ, I command the demons of rebellion to loose the wills of the children, and I command the demons of fear and submission to rebellion to loose the wills of the parents, preachers, teachers, and all figures of authority that God has set up. In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke all strongholds and principalities governing the area of child rebellion and adult fear and submission to child rebellion, and in the name of Jesus Christ I command all said strongholds and principalities to be broken, pass away, and be forever bound from re – forming and again taking their place of influence. Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, now that I have rebuked and bound the demons of rebellion and of fear and submission to rebellion, may the children and adults seek deliverance from those demons and power to do your will in your name. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Thank you Lord.